So for months a friend and I have been slaving over an '86 Mustang to enter in the upcoming Sears Pointless LeMons race at Sears Point.

LeMons is a race series for cars that cost under $500. And the cars have to have a theme. Our mustang was themed after the 1971 Porsche 917 pink pig (google it).

Two weekends ago we got it together and test drove it. It went badly. Really badly. After some wailing and moaning we decided to dump the stang and look for something else. Yep we decided I spent days scouring craigslist and considering multi-state road trips to buy a car that had already raced in LeMons. The advantage of a raced car is that it passed tech inspection so the cage and safety gear is good enough. We got super lucky and found a 1991 Accord for sale just 20 or 30 miles from us. It had been in LeMons for one race in 2013. It's even registered (street legal) through the end of the month! Of course I know nearly nothing about old Accords. My knowledge of 911s from 1965 to 1995 is encyclopedic, but hondas, not so much. I've joined up here where it looks like there is a bank of knowledge and helpful enthusiasts.

So it was advertised as having just one problem. They cross threaded the crown nut on the bottom of the right lower ball joint. After getting it on jack stands I took off the wheels and one of the rear lug nuts was waay overtightened. It sheared right off. I took the drum off and took apart the hub so I could hammer out the broken stud. $1.99 for a new stud and $5.99 for 4 new lug nuts and a bit of banging and it went back together. We found the cross threaded nut on the ball joint and got it off. We're going to use a tap and die to clean the threads and get a new nut on there.

On more thorough inspection we found a few other bits that need work. The exhaust manifold has a crack. The ball joints are pretty hammered. The 14" wheels have some all weather touring tires.

But the on the bright side it looks like someone did some front brake work. The calipers are single piston but they are big and the disks are vented. I don't know if that is stock but with some DOT4 and some race pads they should do the trick.

I'll post again shortly with some pictures. It looks like this forum doesn't host pics so I'll have to update my blog and link to them from there.

In the mean time, as soon as we get that nut on I want to take it to get pre-smogged. If it looks like it could pass I'll have to replace the manifold because the inspect for stuff like that and a leak in the exhaust will fail. Any way that presents an opportunity. I imagine there were several different manifolds available. I'd even guess that this engine might have been in some acura with a proper header on it. So since I have to replace the dang thing anyway, what should I be looking for? Any suggestions where to look?

I'm going to assume you have an F22a1. For the header[if you're on a budget] go out and get yourself the header off an F22a6 found on EX models. They'll net you the same HP as the generic 4 to 1 headers you'll find on eBay or what have you. If you can weld, putting a 2.5" collector on there will net you even more gains. If you can't weld, and you might not find an a6 header that isn't already cracked from age/abuse, DCSports headers are CARB approved. If it doesn't have to be CARB legal, then Megan is the next best thing.

It's stamped on the block under the water outlet & right of the tranny. Looking at the header, you have an a1 block. The 30HP for 500 bucks thread is .

I have seen the $500 hp thread. I wouldn't be considering the header if the existing one weren't cracked.

To me success in Lemons means getting to drive lots of laps and getting to do it again in another race. So the most important things are don't crash and don't break it.

This weekend I'm going to the Newark pick-n-pull their website shows that they have about 20 similar vintage accords and a handfull of preludes. I hope to get a header, a lower ball joint, and a rear sway bar. We're working on wheels as well. After that she's ready to roll.

I wouldn't drive into town on a used lower ball joint from a JY. Not to mention race. Kinda falls in the category of don't wreck it. And when you press the LBJ out you almost always ruin it. Good luck with that.

We got a castle nut on the ball joint and took it for a drive. I hit the car wash to rinse off a year's accumulated grime. Then I took it to be smogged. I don't have all the right paperwork from the DMV yet, but I talked him into testing it anyway and it runs really clean. Yay!

But clearly something is up on the right front. It has visibly too much negative camber.

The right front has too much negative camber. We think it was hit. The body structure at all the suspension attachment points looks unbent. The suspension bits also look unbent. We've decided that the upper ball joint is bent and we've ordered front upper control arms for both sides. I hope that sorts it out. While looking I found these:

They look like they replace the bushings and bolts where the front upper control arm meets the body. Has anyone used these? It seems like an awfully easy way to get some camber adjustment.

We started looking for some structure in in front bumper. We want to install a tow bar for ease of transport (it is a bit wide for the trailer we have and the bigger wheels will make it too wide). It looked to me like there isn't any steel in the bumper at all. I've googled around and looked at photos and diagrams. I'm sure many of you have had them off. Am I mistaken, is there a real bumper in there?

This weekend I'm going to the Newark pick-n-pull their website shows that they have about 20 similar vintage accords and a handfull of preludes. I hope to get a header, a lower ball joint, and a rear sway bar. After that she's ready to roll.

Note that the rear sway bar from the EX won't bolt up to an LX. Honda actually changed the rear cross member. If you have an LX and want a rear sway bar, the easy way is to buy an after market one from someone like Progress.

Note that the rear sway bar from the EX won't bolt up to an LX. Honda actually changed the rear cross member. If you have an LX and want a rear sway bar, the easy way is to buy an after market one from someone like Progress.

Aftermarket is too much money. It looks like the cross member is the same but with out the threaded holes for the bar mounts. That's easy to fix with a drill and some threaded inserts. I got all the mounting hardware with the bar.

The intake bit under the right fender was busted up so I plumbed in some metal dryer hose from the air filter box to the fog light opening in the bumper. Ghetto ram air baby!

Does anyone know how much brake fluid is required to flush the system completely? I looked up the fluid capacity faq here but for brakes it said something like "top it off". I want to flush the DOT3 out of there completely and replace with some racing DOT4.